Changing Views
by Suuki
Summary: Mitsunari wants to be friends with Sakon. Sakon has never liked him as a person. When he asks for Kanetsugu and Yukimura's help on the matter, he never expected falling in love with Sakon to be part of the plan. Sakon x Mitsunari/Kanetsugu x Osen
1. To be blunt, I never liked you

Wow, an actual chapter story? Samurai Warriors has really destroyed me for good, aha. Anyhoo, some disclaimers before I get started...

1. I do not, in any shape, way or form, own Samurai Warriors. If I did, that'd be dangerous. 8D

2. The setting is a time when Hideyoshi has officially established his rule and the country is at peace. The battle of Sekigahara has not happened yet, and errm... all of Hideyoshi's retainers live in one castle in Osaka.

3. That being said, I do intend to be historically accurate nor do I intend to give an explanation as to _why _or _how _everyone lives together in the same castle. It makes it easier for me.

4. Yukimura, being Yukimura, usually calls everyone by a title (-sama, -dono, -san, etc.) but for English purposes, I have translated it all into the word "lord."

* * *

**Chapter One:** _To be blunt, I never liked you._

Musty, hot weather was never anyone's friend. It especially never made friends with any one of Hideyoshi's retainers, particularly Ishida Mitsunari. The more the weather tried to befriend him (or vice versa) the more lower ranking officers feared to disturb him while he was in his room. Mitsunari's equals hardly stepped into his room as it was and hell knows if they did… well, really they had no clue as to what _would_ happen, and frankly, none of them liked him enough to put up with the drama that could result from such an action.

Those who did like the ill-tempered man never ventured any further than his screen door. Yukimura was always cautious about not disturbing others, so most of the time he just invited Mitsunari to various "bonding" activities outside of their private quarters in which 97 percent of the time ended with Mitsunari suggesting they invite Kanetsugu as well. Kanetsugu usually waited until either one of his good friends interrupted him from meditating or reading in his own quarters. The Uesugi retainer's room matched his personality: very tidy, in order, and considerably more homely than Yukimura's quarters in a scholarly way. The "Crimson Samurai," on the other hand, was very much a plain soul, so no one was ever surprised when they walked into his room and found a very humble living, with almost no homely decorations in sight. Mitsunari's room, however, might as well been one of the great unsolved mysteries of their time.

Even Kanetsugu had never stepped into Mitsunari's room. When asked about it, he answered that he had never been invited, so he never had the privilege. Did he know where his room was located? He smiled, replying that everyone knew, whether they wanted to or not. Mitsunari was a rather important person after all. After casually explaining the location of it, Kanetsugu drifted off at the end of his sentence.

"Something wrong?" Sakon asked.

"Ah… no, nothing. I'm just curious as to why."

"Got some financial papers for him. Lord Hideyoshi couldn't find anyone else within an arm's reach to deliver them."

"I see…"

"Am I going to be eaten or what?"

Kanetsugu wasn't following.

"I heard Lord Mitsunari has been quite an ass lately because of the hot weather. Well, I should say _more _of an ass."

"I can't say I've seen him outside his room too often lately. I'm starting to wonder what he's been preoccupying himself with these days."

Sakon left a word of thanks with Kanetsugu and excused himself from the room. He contemplated on his luck of being assigned the task to wander in the tiger's lair in a situation where nobody knew whether or not the tiger was hungry, irritated, or just refused to come out and let the sun tan his pale skin. Pulling on the collar of his darkly colored yukata to cool some residing sweat, he cursed the heat under his breath and set out down the hall towards his destination.

It was like any other room from the outside. The sliding doors were plain enough: un-decorated, no voodoo or strange signs written on the paper. It was surprisingly not in a dark, creepy corner or even in a remote part of the castle, away from civilization, but in a common hallway close to many other rooms that people generally accessed. Sakon was starting to wonder if he had found the wrong door.

"Lord Mitsunari! I have some papers from Lord Hideyoshi!"

No response.

"Lord Mitsunari! It's Sakon!"

No response.

Sakon rose an eyebrow and leaned in towards the door to listen for any signs of life. When he failed to pick up anything, deciding it wouldn't hurt if he just left the papers, he slid the door open. At first, he noticed that Mitsunari was actually in the room and nearly jumped out of his skin. However, he quickly realized that no harm was done. So this is what the great Ishida Mitsunari had "preoccupied" himself with this past week.

He was sleeping. On the floor, no less.

Dark blue was Mitsunari's color choice for his attire that day, a very loose fitting yukata with rolled up sleeves and a black sash. His warm chestnut hair, missing its usual golden headpiece, spread freely on the floor. As much as he complained about the heat, his glowing complexion was free from much sweat besides perhaps a slight glisten around the sides of his neck. As Mitsunari lay comfortably with one hand behind his head and the other upon his stomach, Sakon took notice of the absence of his usually glaring eyes and tight, guarded face. Even his mouth was slightly open. The samurai stepped around his superior and placed the papers onto the clothed table taking the opportunity to glance at the strange sight before him.

"If people saw you like this they might start to think of you more as a human being." Sakon said aloud, more to himself than to Mitsunari, who didn't respond except for a small mumble and a slight turn of his body. Eager to make history (at least in the castle), he carefully positioned himself so that he was staring directly at Mitsunari and lightly flicked the man's forehead. He smirked when the victim responded with the furrowing of his eyebrows and groaning. But the best part was still to come, and Sakon waited patiently for it.

Strangely, although people shouting his name outside his door could not even stir him, he was greatly disturbed when anything touched him in his slumber. Begrudgingly, Mitsunari opened his eyes and attempted to focus his vision. The first time, he could see nothing but fuzzy images and strange colors. As his brain processed the information, he was able to come to the conclusion that it was someone's face. Nothing to be alarmed about, he was too tired to care any—

Wait, someone's face?

Fully opening his eyes, his heart nearly jumped as far as he did away from the person in front of him. In fact, in doing so he had almost fallen over backwards as his hands slipped on his own sleeves. About to reach for his fan underneath the table, he was snapped back into reality from his panicked state when the intruder started laughing. Mitsunari actually looked up towards his visitor, who was now standing before him.

"Good morning." Sakon greeted, a satisfied smirk on his face.

"How did you-- when did you--?"

"Through the door and just now." To Sakon, there was nothing better right now than to hear Mitsunari speak in fragments in his presence. He highly doubted that Kanetsugu or Yukimura or anyone else for that matter would ever have the pleasure of hearing such words. Unfortunately, his fun (and glory) didn't quite last for as long as he would have hoped, as Mitsunari was back to himself with a quick brush of his hair.

"Did you always have such manners? Barging into someone else's room without permission—"

"I called your name, shouted even, twice. You can't blame me. Anyway, I brought you papers from Lord Hideyoshi." Sakon stated, pointing out the stack on the table. Mitsunari stared at the pile.

"Just get out."

People weren't joking when they warned him that the heat was not Mitsunari's friend. Not that much anyone else was besides Kanetsugu and Yukimura, of course, but at least they didn't make the man more bitchy than usual. Sakon scoffed.

"Well then, I'll be taking my leave, Lord Mitsunari."

Mitsunari twitched at the title and even more at the sarcasm. "Why do you still insist upon calling me "lord"? I told you I employed you as my equal."

Sakon turned and steadied his gaze. "It's a reminder for me to suppress the urges I get to knock you senseless."

"Excuse me?"

"I'll make myself clear. I respect your abilities and your ideals, but you personally, I cannot bring myself to like. Frankly, I can't see myself as your equal, it would insult my integrity."

With that Sakon shut the sliding doors behind him. Mitsunari could have stood up like he did, cast the whole comment off as another person unappreciative of his personality, look at the papers from Lord Hideyoshi, and settle down for another afternoon nap, but he didn't. It was more like he couldn't. Mitsunari had always respected Sakon. The man always seemed to have so much patience for him no matter what the circumstances and possessed the unique ability to keep him in check with mere words, usually an extremely difficult task. "Friend" was a term he wanted to use with Sakon, the same way he used it with Kanetsugu and Yukimura, but, apparently, he lacked the ability to make such friends under any circumstances other than an oath.

The comment bothered him. So much so that when he delivered the completed paper-work back to Hideyoshi his superior asked him if there were some difficulties this time around.

"It's nothing," was the reply.

* * *

That's all for now. Reviews are always more than welcome.


	2. Be honest, am I

Aha, right. The second chappie is here! So, with a new chapter comes some new disclaimers!

1. I STILL do not own Samurai Warriors. -tear-

2. If some of you are thinking "who the hell is Osen? AN OC? OMGWTFBBQDIE?!" relax. She is indeed a made-up character BUT she was historically Kanetsugu's wife and it just so happens that I need her to play a part in this story. That is all.

Random person: "AWZ, Kanetsugu's not going to be ghey with Yukimura/Keiji/Masamune ETC?"

Me: "Uh...NO."

3. I made a typo on the first set of disclaimers. I am NOT going to be historically accurate. XD That's what I get for uploading at 2'oclock in the morning.

4. I fail at humor. I'm sorry if it's not funny. XP

* * *

**Chapter 2:** _Be honest, am I that hard to get along with?_

Staring into his tea wasn't going to solve his dilemma, though Mitsunari enjoyed doing so if only to relax himself after a long day of work. But at the present time, he just wanted to throw his tea cup out the window. It was nearly the third day since Sakon's unexpected visit, and not only was Mitsunari now extremely paranoid about taking naps he couldn't stop thinking about unnecessary things related to the samurai's words.

That was one thing irritating about peace; Mitsunari didn't have as much work to do and thus had no effective way to keep himself busy for long periods of time. True, he was still Hideyoshi's chief advisor, but advising in times of peace was like a mere distraction rather than actual work. So thus, he took long naps. With the absence of sleep, he found that he had nothing better to do than sit at the table with an open book in front of him (used as an excuse in case someone _actually_ paid him a visit), stare into his cup of tea and wait for insanity to slowly eat away at his mind.

Mitsunari knew it was pathetic. He wanted to get out of his room, but wasn't sure if the outside world would appreciate an agitated (from lack of sleep), moody (from Sakon's comment), and frustrated (his tea was cold, again) Ishida Mitsunari. After some contemplation, he tied up his hair and straightened his attire, deciding that he really didn't give a damn if the world wasn't ready. They were never really ready for him anyway. The outside greeted him with a shower of sun beams and he closed his eyes in annoyance as he stepped out into the corridor. Two officers, who just happened to shuffle by, stopped in his presence.

"L-Lord Ishida!"

Why did his subordinates always greet him as if they saw the devil in broad daylight?

He sighed and told them to carry on, shielding his eyes with his sleeves as he walked in the other direction. If time was at his disposal, he would make the best out of it by getting rid of the annoyance that lingered in his mind. He figured the only way to rid himself of his annoyance was to unravel the age old mystery: How could Kanetsugu and Yukimura stand him when nobody else seemed to want him around?

* * *

Sanada Yukimura, unaware that Mitsunari had selected him to be the first victim, enthusiastically invited his good friend into his quarters. "Lord Mitsunari, this is quite a surprise," he claimed as they both settled down with some tea.

"I hope I'm not intruding."

"No, not at all! You are welcome anytime!"

Mitsunari mustered a small smile. That was one thing he liked about Yukimura; he always seemed so genuine. Some would call it innocence, or maybe even naivety, but it was simply the way he chose to live. His sincerity towards people he held to be important wasn't necessarily a negative aspect in Mitsunari's eyes. Perhaps this was why he didn't bother reminding Yukimura that he needn't call his friends "lord." Mitsunari often mused that surely, Kanetsugu and Yukimura, judging by their similar personalities, would have eventually befriended each other even without his presence. Why they were drawn to his dispassionate self was a mystery indeed.

"Is something troubling you?" Yukimura asked, noticing his friend's mellow expression.

"Tell me, Yukimura… am I an ass?"

The "Crimson Samurai'' nearly spit out his tea. "Lord Mitsunari?" he questioned after he had coughed several times to fight against the tea that threatened to go down the wrong tube.

"Honestly now."

"Of course not! At times, you may appear to be cold… and it's true sometimes you seem insensitive… and selfish…and somewhat rude…but you can't help but be who you are! It certainly doesn't mean you are …erm…intolerable!"

"Hmm…" Mitsunari pondered. Well, that was certainly a round-about way of concluding that he was an ass.

"Forgive me for saying this but… it is strange for a man like yourself to be concerned over such things."

Mitsunari stared into his tea. "…I sound like a woman don't I?"

"That's not what I meant at all! I didn't mean to imply that you were _less_ of a man for worrying over such things, I just meant, well, for a man like yourself… not to say you are cold blooded but—a man of your nature--"

Translation: "Asses don't care about what other people think."

A hand upon his shoulder stopped Yukimura from rambling on any further. Mitsunari was starting to get the feeling his questioning was much more uncomfortable for Yukimura than it was for him. In order not to torment his friend any longer, he decided it might have been best if he just dropped the subject. "I get it, Yukimura. It's alright. Even I know this is strange of me…forget I said anything."

"If it helps, I think you are fine the way you are."

Mitsunari smiled. "Thanks. Although you and Kanetsugu may be the only ones that think so…"

"That's not true at all. Lord Sakon thinks highly of you as well."

Mitsunari froze for an instant but quickly attempted to brush it off by clearing his throat, an action that didn't go un-noticed by his companion. "Highly of my ideals, perhaps, but not me," he replied.

"Are they not the same thing?" the samurai questioned, puzzled.

"Not exactly. It's complicated…" Mitsunari replied, shifting his gaze to his tea.

"I see…" Yukimura muttered, nodding to express his understanding. He had long noticed his friend had a habit of looking down to express his displeasure or to imply that he was in thought. Yukimura could put two and two together. While the two quietly sipped tea between themselves for moment, he took the opportunity to voice his suspicions.

"Your concerns… wouldn't happen to have anything to do with Lord Sakon, would it?"

This time it was Mitsunari's turn to choke on his tea.

"Did something happen?"

After managing to soothe his cough, Mitsunari decided that beating around the bush wasn't going to give him the answers that he wanted. As he explained his side of the story, he felt agitation ignite within him again. At first, questioning Yukimura was suppose to solve the dilemma of why anyone in the right mind would enjoy his company, but suddenly he had a revelation. Why did he care so much? So Sakon didn't appreciate his personality, but, nevertheless, he stayed loyal to him. So Sakon didn't think he was worthy enough to become his equal, but Mitsunari still had an adequate number of companions regardless. Wasn't that all he cared about? Wasn't that all he needed?

Perhaps he _wanted_ Sakon to like him. The idea itself was foreign, bewildering to him.

"I'm sure once Lord Sakon gets to know you better, he'll come to like you," Yukimura tried re-assuring Mitsunari after he had finished.

Mitsunari sighed. "Or he'll turn out like Masanori. Then, they_ both_ can plot to murder me in my sleep, shave me bald, and throw my carcass into the forest for wolves to ravish."

Yukimura blinked.

"… Masanori's words. My point is, I doubt Sakon will find anything worth his while with me. If anything, he'll hate me more than he already does."

Mitsunari's hazy, depressed self was knocked into shock when his companion slammed the table and suddenly shouted, "You can't give up so easily, my lord! If you try, I'm sure you can get Lord Sakon to like you! All you have to do is show him your good points!"

"Yukimura… I think you missed the point--" Mitsunari barely managed to say before Yukimura grabbed both his hands.

"I'll gladly help accomplish your goal!" he proclaimed, a huge smile upon his face.

"I appreciate it, Yukimura, but I never asked—"

"So it's settled then! How about we--"

"YUKIMURA!"

"…Are you displeased?" Yukimura asked. Mitsunari, about to claim that he could handle the situation perfectly on his own, suddenly felt like his heart was being trampled by ten horses at once when he saw the disappointment and worry on the samurai's face.

"You don't… I…" he sputtered.

It was no use. He couldn't win against Yukimura's purity.

Mitsunari sighed heavily and buried his face in his palm. "…Do you have some kind of plan?" he finally muttered. Once again, Yukimura smiled brightly and nodded. He leaned over and whispered what he had in mind into Mitsunari's ear...

* * *

Mitsunari hoped he knew what he was getting himself into.

His heart beat wildly as the two of them passed each other casually in the hallway. The older man eyed his lord and gave a short, respectful bow before excusing himself. Mitsunari swallowed and forced the words stuck in his throat to emerge.

"Sakon."

The man addressed turned around and Mitsunari turned to face him.

"Would you care to spar with me?"

* * *

I'm sorry if my chapters seem mega short. I kinda already planned out the material for each chapter, so I'm trying to stick to that agenda. Well, anyway, please review if possible, I appreciate any kind of constructive criticisms as well!


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